The Empire Strikes Back

The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, has returned and only Luke
Skywalker and his troup of brave rebels can stop him and his evil forces.
The Empire Strikes Back is the sequel to Domark’s Star
Wars which gained 84% in Issue 48.

There are four levels in the game which broadly follow the plot of the
film. The first level takes place on the surface of the planet Hoth, where the
Empire has released hundreds of probots to search for the rebel hideout. The
player takes the role of Luke Skywalker and must stop the probots from
transmitting pictures of the rebels’ power generator to Darth Vader. The
player’s aim is to shoot as many probots as possible and also to destroy their
transmissions. The probots are not unarmed however and shoot fireballs at the
player’s snowspeeder, partially destroying its shields on contact.

If Luke manages to survive this, he proceeds to the next level where he
takes his snowspeeder across the planet’s surface to do battle with the
Empire’s AT-AT (All-Terrain Armoured Transport) and AT-ST (All Terrain Scout
Transport) walkers. The AT-ST walkers are small but fast, while the AT-ATs are
very large and slow and can be ‘tripped up’ by firing tow cables at their
legs.

For the third level the player takes the role of Han Solo in his
Millennium Falcon against a swarm of TIE fighters. The enemy move quickly around
the screen firing shots at the spaceship. Only if this is survived can the
player progress to face the peril of the asteroid field which contains
multitudes of deadly spinning boulders. These cannot be shot and must be
avoided to reach the safety of the huge asteroid, at which the point the
rebels’ mission starts all over again.

During the game, bonus points can be earned by destroying a specific
number of enemy targets. Letters may also be awarded with the bonus points and
if the player manages to spell out JEDI then for a limited time he becomes
invincible against all enemies.

Producer: DomarkPrice: £9.99Author: George Iwanow (of Vector Grafix)

The AT-ATs progress on the rebels’ power generator, as you concentrate on annihilating a loose AT-ST

CRITICISM

“The Empire Strikes Back is, of course, very much like its
predecessor Star Wars, with fast vector graphics. The game is of
the ‘blast everything in sight’ type and is full of mindless violence. The
vector graphics move very smoothly and are surprisingly colourful. The way the
walkers move is particularly good as they stride along, head turning. The
gameplay is fast and furious with plenty of well-drawn, fast-moving enemies
about. Of course, the game is not very original since there are plenty of
wire-frame shoot ’em ups about, but it’s playable all the same. The various
levels each provide a different challenge and add variety to the game. If you
liked Star Wars then you should enjoy this.”

PHIL ... 90%

“Graphically The Empire Strikes Back is excellent — just like the
arcade machine. All the aliens move smoothly and are well animated; there’s
even a generous amount of colour in there too. You may think that it’s a waste
of time to buy this if you already own games such as 3-D
Starstrike, Starglider or Star Wars, but this
does hold some new enemies and it is pretty fast. Besides
the 3-D graphics in the game there’s also a picture of Luke Skywalker on the
title screen, and when you start you have to wait while Darth Vader’s ship
Executor passes by. The Empire Strikes Back is great fun if you’re
a fan of this style of 3-D shoot ’em up, but with the lack of levels I don’t
think it will have huge lasting appeal.”

NICK ... 90%

“Domark have, without a doubt, done the best job they could have. The Spectrum
version has all the speed and playability of the all-too-rare arcade machine
and is amazingly addictive. If you thought Star Wars was fun — and
the graphics on that were pretty neat — then take a look at the latest in
Domark’s trilogy; the walkers on the second stage are out of this world! Their
movement is so realistic you’d think you were watching the film (well, almost).
The speed is tremendous — especially on the first stage where you can really
swoop around and dodge things just like on its arcade equivalent. And then
there’s that great Star Wars soundtrack. Domark don’t
produce many games, but they’re always memorable. Now, when’s Return of
the Jedi coming out?”

PAUL ... 90%

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, SinclairGraphics: superb representations of the arcade characters, all moving at break-neck speedSound: hip-hop Dave Whitaker Star Wars soundtrack (enhanced on the 128K machines), and in-game special effectsGeneral rating:Domark go from strength to strength. The Empire Strikes Back has all the speed, playability and graphics of the arcade machine. A must for all fans of the trilogy